Extracellular matrix incorporated within a scaffold plays an important role in assisting cell behavior in neural tissue engineering. In this study, we investigated how the concentration of fibronectin (FN) affected neurite growth when incorporated within a synthetic polymer gel made of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) or a natural polymer gel of collagen I. Mechanical and chemical properties of the ...

Polymer gels undergo volume phase transition in a thermodynamically poor solvent as a result of changes in molecular interactions. The osmotic pressure of gels, both synthetic and biological in nature, induces swelling and imparts the materials with the capacity to resist compressive loads. We have investigated the mechanical and swelling properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) gels brought int...

Polymers used in textiles were found to be effective as actuator materials with large deformation. Particularly, the polymers with low dielectric constants used to be considered inactive to electric field were turned out to be efficient actuator materials. They were classified into three types; (1) polymer gels swollen with solvents, (2) plasticized polymers, (3) bulk polymers. From the viewpoi...

While the low thermal conductivities of silica aerogels have made them of interest to the aerospace community as lightweight thermal insulation, the application of conformal polymer coatings to these gels increases their strength significantly, making them potentially useful as structural materials as well. In this work we perform multiscale computer simulations to investigate the tensile and c...

Kamerlin, N. 2017. Computer Simulations of Polymer Gels. Structure, Dynamics, and Deformation. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1596. 69 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-0144-0. This thesis presents the results of computer simulation studies of the structure, dynamics, and deformation of cross-linked ...